Fostering Sustainable Food Systems in Newfoundland: A Case Study of the West Coast Farmers’ Market (2012)
This one-year research project is part of a larger 3- year study of food security in the Humber River Basin called Food Security in a Time of Climate Change: Assessing and Building Capacity for Alternative Food Networks and Production in the Humber River Basin, funded by the Humber River Basin Project (HRBP) at Grenfell Campus, Memorial University. The HRBP-funded study examined the strengths and weaknesses of the local food system in the Humber River Basin through a community food security assessment.
The Harris Centre funded farmers’ market study aimed to provide insight into opportunities for improving local food marketing by specifically looking at the potential for farmers’ markets to succeed in this region.
The project endeavored to assess the potential for a farmers’ market on the west coast of Newfoundland and Labrador, using the West Coast Farmers’ Market as a case study. An evaluation was conducted of this market from July 2011 – March 2012 to explore its challenges and success, and to seek potential ways forward for this specific market as well as for others in the province.
An Analysis of the Economic Development Opportunities Associated with the Green Economy for Newfoundland & Labrador (2011)
Greening the economy is a concept that is gaining considerable public interest and political attention around the globe as business and government leaders seek new opportunities in a carbon- and resource-constrained world. Many factors are driving the global shift toward a greener economy, most notably the need to address the impacts of climate change and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, to better manage scarce resources, to weather fluctuations in commodity, fuel, and food prices, and to generate new economic and employment opportunities.
With this in mind, the Department of Innovation, Trade, and Rural Development and the Office of Climate Change, Energy Efficiency, and Emissions Trading within the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador (NL) engaged GLOBE Advisors, in partnership with AMEC Earth & Environmental in St. John’s, to carry out a study to identify the economic development, trade, and employment opportunities associated with greening the economy in NL.
Grenfell Carbon Footprint Report 2010-2011
Pathways and Challenges to Reinventing Forestry in Newfoundland
Offshore Environmental Authority Recommendation
In this brief, we call for creation of a regulatory authority body that would operate independently of the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board to protect the environment during offshore oil and gas activities. Our position is that safety and the protection of the environment cannot be considered separately. The recommendation to create an independent safety authority, recently endorsed by the NL government due to the crash of the Sikorsky S-902A helicopter in 2009, should be matched by a separate environmental body. The United States government has recently done this: in response to the Deepwater Horizon blowout, the U.S. restructured the regulatory oversight of offshore oil and gas to create independent safety and environmental regulators.
Offshore Environmental Authority Recommendation - Download the PDF document here.
Spring Water Quality in NL
Dissatisfaction with tap water has gradually grown over time and in many places in Canada bottled water and various tap water filtering systems have become increasingly popular. In Newfoundland, road side springs are another popular alternative drinking water supply, yet the Provincial Government does not test or treat this water. This study examines 18 communities in Western Newfoundland to determine why people don’t drink tap water, the frequency of use of road side springs, and the bacteriological safety of a sampling of road side springs. The results indicate that the main reason for not drinking tap water was that it was perceived to be unsafe. But springs were used by 23% of those surveyed and these springs were found to be above acceptable limits in E-Coli or coliforms 24 % of the time!
Spring Water Quality in NL - Download the PDF document here.